Frères Mentouri University Research & Copyright

Faculty of Letters & Languages Unit 3: Copyright

Department of Letters & the English Language M2
 

The Scope of Copyright Protection

Copyright law protects only the form of expression of ideas, not the ideas themselves. Copyright
protection is above all one of the means of promoting, enriching and disseminating the national
cultural heritage. A country’s development depends to a very great extent on the creativity of its
people. In general, if a work meets the definition of a copyright-protected work, copying the work
or any substantial portion of it will require permission of the copyright owner unless one of the
exceptions in the law applies. Copyright law enables the owner to control access to the work
created and provides strong penalties for infringement of owners’ rights. The statutory concept of
“fair use” is an important exception, particularly in the educational context of a university.

1. Copyright Infringement
Copyright is infringed by anyone who, without permission of the copyright owner, does any of the
following restricted acts: copies a work or any part of it; publishes a work; issues copies of a work
to the public; performs, plays or shows a work in public; makes a work available to the public by
means of an electronic retrieval system; broadcasts a work; communicates a work or makes it
available via a computer network to the public; makes an adaptation of a work; imports an
infringing copy; possesses or deals with an infringing copy; or authorises another person to do any
of these things.

As a result, a successful copyright infringement action gives the copyright owner the right to
stop someone from printing, performing, sharing or otherwise disseminating the work. Infringing
works can be seized and destroyed.

2. Using Materials in the Public Domain

Copyright laws do not protect creative works that are in the “public domain.” No one owns these
works and anyone can use them. Creative works become part of the public domain when:

• The copyright has expired.

• The copyright owner did not renew the copyright.

• The copyright owner designates the work as public domain.

3. Permitted Acts

The Copyright Act does, however, permit certain exceptions to these restricted acts under
specified conditions. Two main areas of exception relate to copying for educational
purposes, and copying by librarians. The main exceptions applying to students relate to
copying for criticism, review and news reporting; copying for research or private study;
and copying for educational purposes.

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Frères Mentouri University Research & Copyright
Faculty of Letters & Languages Unit 3: Copyright
Department of Letters & the English Language M2
 
The law includes the doctrine of fair use. This doctrine states that people have a right to
use copyrighted materials freely without payment or permission, for purposes such as
“criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.” In essence, fair
use gives people a right to use copyrighted material when the cost to the copyright holder
is less than the social benefit of the use of the copyrighted work.

4. Fair Use
If a work falls within fair use, it may not be necessary to obtain permission from or payment to the
copyright owner. Fair use, or sometimes referred to as fair dealing, with a work for the purposes of
criticism, review, or news reporting does not infringe copyright in a work. “Fair use” in this
context is not defined. It must be accompanied by due acknowledgement, and does not apply to
photographs.

Individuals must assess the specific context and situation of the use of a copyrighted work to
determine if fair use applies. The law also states that fair use with a work for the purposes of
research or private study does not infringe copyright in a work. In determining what is “fair use”,
users must take into account:

• The purpose of the copying – it must be for research or for private study, i.e., non-profit
educational purposes.

• The nature and significance of what is copied, taken in relation to the work as a whole. Is the
work factual in nature (scholarly, technical, scientific, and so on) or is it a creative expression,
such as a work of fiction, a poem, or an image?

• The effect of the copying on the potential market for, or value of, the work – if, for example,
the copying deprives the copyright owner of a legitimate sale, the copying will not be fair
dealing.

• The amount and substantiality or importance of the part copied, taken in relation to the
whole work. The larger the amount you use, the less likely it will be considered a fair use.

Provided that these fair dealing guidelines are observed, it is permissible to copy the whole of
a periodical article. It is not permissible, however, to copy more than a small portion of a book or
other work, and it is never permissible to copy the whole of a book, without the prior permission
of the copyright owner. Fair use embraces the modifying of existing media content, placing it in
new context. Such transformative use is at the heart of media literacy education, where teachers
and students use mass media, popular culture and digital media to develop critical thinking and
communication skills.

Under the fair use provisions, students may quote brief passages from other in-copyright
works in their theses or other research, without obtaining permission from the copyright owners.
However, prior permission from the copyright owners must always be obtained if more
substantial passages are to be quoted. Note that “substantiality” is determined by the qualitative
importance or significance of what is copied, rather than by the simple amount of what is copied –

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Frères Mentouri University Research & Copyright
Faculty of Letters & Languages Unit 3: Copyright
Department of Letters & the English Language M2
 
there is no “ten percent rule” allowing copying of a specified number of pages or quantity of
material.

All quotations must be duely acknowledged by citing the full bibliographic details, including
the page-numbers of the quoted works, as is standard academic practice. Students may also
paraphrase the ideas and opinions of other writers, provided that the sources are acknowledged
and there is no plagiarism.

Because artistic works, drawings, photographs, diagrams, tables, charts, maps, etc. constitute
individual works in which there is likely to be separate copyright, permission should be obtained
from copyright owners before these are reproduced in student theses.

Copyright in most commercially-published books and periodicals is owned by their

publishers. Many publisher web-sites provide information about copyright policies – what is
permitted, who to write to for permissions, licence requirements, fees payable, etc.

A student giving a class or seminar at an educational establishment may copy the whole or
part of a work, provided that the copying is to assist the student in preparing and giving the class,
and provided that only one copy is made on any one occasion.

5. Copyright and the Internet

It is a good habit to always check the terms and conditions of use or copyright statements when
accessing material on the internet. Not everything on the internet is free for further use. The fact
that something is posted on the internet does not automatically give anyone the right to store, copy
or disseminate it, unless the author or copyright owner has waived copyright, specifically granted
permission, or made the work available via an open content licence which permits downloading or
copying; or unless the work is in the public domain, i.e. out of copyright.

It has been argued that placing material on the internet without restrictions is an implied
licence to view, download and/or print the material. However, it has also been argued that
viewing, and subsequently printing or downloading a work from the internet, infringes the
copyright owner’s exclusive right to reproduce or communicate the work.

Electronic resources have the same copyright protection as print or audio-visual resources.
For electronic databases there is copyright in the database itself, and in the resources included in
the database. Almost all informational databases subscribed to by libraries are subject to the
provisions of licence agreements signed by the libraries with database providers, aggregators and
e-journal publishers, and copies from the databases may be made only in terms of those license
agreements.

Students whose theses are to be published in digital format in their institution’s research
repository are required to sign a deposit licence authorising this. These theses are accessible
through institutional digital repositories, library catalogues, search engines such as Google. Full
copyright protection is retained and others making use of and quoting from their theses may do so
only within the provisions of copyright law.

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Frères Mentouri University Research & Copyright
Faculty of Letters & Languages Unit 3: Copyright
Department of Letters & the English Language M2
 
6. Moral Rights
They are retained by the author even if the copyright has been assigned to another party. The
author must still be acknowledged and credited as the creator of the work. Your work should not
be falsely attributed as this is a breach of the law. Students must take care not to offend against
these rights, particularly in their theses or other publications.

7. Copyright Licenses
Most educational institutions have entered into licensing agreements with reproduction rights
organisations. These agreements allow for the copying of in-copyright works in a more generous
way than is provided for under the Copyright Act. The University has entered into licences with
large numbers of publishers, both directly and through Access Copyright, which allow University
faculty, staff and students to copy certain works, subject to the terms and conditions of the
particular licence.

An exclusive licence means you retain copyright but grant your publisher certain rights over
your work for the term of the agreement. These rights can include the right to publish,
communicate and distribute online and to sublicense. These rights are given only to the publisher,
or whoever is named on the licence agreement, and you cannot give them to anyone else during
the term of the agreement.

Non-exclusive licence is similar to the exclusive licence but allows you to also give the same
rights to other parties as well. This type of licence can sometimes be referred to as a ‘permission’ to
use or reproduce because the copyright owner is allowing another party to use their work for a
certain purpose or purposes.

In conclusion, students should be able to make at least cursory evaluations regarding where
information comes from, who owns it, and what rights are offered. Working with students to
uncover the intricacies of IP law and fair use, focusing on key legal cases, helps students
understand the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information.

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